Soused - Inside and Out

As I mentioned in my previous post, my internet has been down due to severe flooding in my area. Thankfully my house is situated on a nice steep hill, so other than the usual lake in my basement that occurs any time it drizzles, we didn't have any flood damage.

I think I'll toss away my K-mart flyer for awhile.
The most severe blow was that both the Chinese buffet and the Dollar Tree was also flooded, leading to permanent psychological damage for my children.

Thankfully, the day before all that horrible flooding occured, I was able to go to my friend Anne's house for a really fun evening with the gals.
Anne is a phenomenal cook. I think I ate a swathe of destruction through the cheese dip.
The little toasted thingys cowered in terror after I wreaked havoc upon their soft yet crunchy innards.
The planned event for the evening was a wine tasting, something that I haven't gotten to do since my honeymoon 11 years ago. (And keep your snide comments to yourself about wine tasting and gulping and slurpring.)
We were each supposed to bring a wine that "expressed our personality". Some women brought the traditional Riesling or Merlot wines, others brought unqiue things like Pumpkin wine. I brought my own homemade stuff. It expresses my cheap personality, because I didn't want to pay $11 for a bottle of wine when I had at least 50 bottles in the basement.
Anne was so professional, asking each of us to give our opinions on such things as clarity, aroma, and finish. Before this educational experience, my opinions of a particular wine were generally, "Yum" or "Ick."
We then had to record our findings on a sheet of paper. This also required a bit of math, which, in my case, is not a good pairing with wine.
(I had to use two sheets, because my first sheet was so messy with my incorrect sums).

Good food, good friends, and good drink.
If one has to be flooded in, it's best to be well-fortified first!